IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


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D 


D 
D 

n 


n 


n 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


r~n    Covers!  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 

I I  c 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pelliculde 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Let; 


tre  de  couverture  manque 


□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  da  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noirel 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
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Bound  with  other  material/ 
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□    Coloured  pages/ 
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□    Pages  damaged/ 
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r~~|    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


0 


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Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicolor^es,  tacheties  ou  piquees 


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po» 
oft 
film 


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tho 
tior 
oth« 
first 
•ion 
or  il 


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0 


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Showthrough/ 
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Mar 
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enti 
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righ 
reqi 
met 


disponible 

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10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


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y 


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20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  filmed  h«r«  hat  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  Diviiion 
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L'axamplaira  filmA  fut^aproduit  grlca  i  la 
g*n*rotit4  da: 

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filmaga. 


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other  original  copies  ara  filmed  beginning  on  the 
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or  illustrated  impression. 


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darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autras  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  fiimis  an  comman9ant  par  la 
pramiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  an  terminant  par 
la  derniAra  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  das  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas;  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartas,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  Atre 
filmis  it  des  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  an  pranant  la  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaira.  Les  diagrammas  suivants 
illi'Strent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

r  '■'*'  ::A 

( 

^    i   ■; 

< 

4 

*•        -,^T 

1. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

SPEECH 


or 


MR.  WINTHROP,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 


ov 


THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES,  U.  S,,  FEB.  1,  1845. 


WASHINGTON : 

J.    AND   G.    S.    GIDEON,    FRINTERS. 

1845. 


WVTp 

W7  93o 


forbear  t 
engaged 
are  actus 
rily  ignoi 
the  Ame 
attentioji 

Indee( 
lated  to  i 
merits  ar( 
gotiations 
niunica(i( 
the  close 
Why  in  si 
we  shall 
are  trcadi 

I  cann( 

pursued  c 

our  side  o 

sintcndei 


F  C 


ft«.» 


UN  17 'M 


SPEECH. 


House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  Stated,  Feb.  1, 1845.    The  bill  for  the  organization  of 
a  Territorial  Government  in  Oregon,  being  under  consideration  in  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union — 
Mr.  WINTHROP  said : 

I  took  the  floor  last  evening,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  I  stated  when  the  com- 
mittee rose,  with  no  view  of  preparing  myself  for  any  formal  speech  on  the 
Oregon  question.  It  may  be  remembered,  that  I  addressed  the  House  on 
that  question  at  some  length  last  year.  The  circumstances  of  the  case  have 
not  materially  changed  since  then,  and  my  opinions  in  regard  to  it  are  alto- 
gether unaltered.  I  ihall  content  myself,  therefore,  with  a  few  remarks  in 
reference  to  the  precise  bill  under  consider<ition,  and  with  some  observations 
in  reply  to  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me  in  the  debate. 

I  shall  enter  into  no  argument  of  the  American  title  to  the  Oregon  terri- 
tory. No  such  argument,  certainly,  is  needed  to  convince  the  Members  of 
this  House  of  the  justice  of  our  claim  to  that  territory.  Whatever  else  we 
may  differ  about,  we  all  seem  to  have  a  sufficient  sense  of  the  soundness  of 
our  own  title.  It  seems  to  be  forgotten,  however,  that  it  is  Great  Britain,  and  not 
the  United  States,  which  requires  to  be  convinced  on  this  point.  If  gentle- 
men would  only  undertake  t<i  satisfy  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
that  the  American  title  is  entirely  indisputable,  and  that  the  British  preten- 
sion is  altogether  void  and  groundless;  or  if  they  could  fortify  Mr.  Calhoun 
fn  his  efforts  to  enforce  these  positions  upon  the  British  minister  with  whom 
he  is  tr  eating,  they  would  turn  their  researches  and  their  rhetoric  to  a  more 
profitable  account.  I  fear  they  are  contributing  to  no  such  result.  1  am  in- 
clined to  believe  that  arguments,  however  strong,  would  lose  much  of  their 
weight  jn  the  quarters  I  have  suggested,  when  uttered  in  the  tone  of  menace 
and  defiance  which  has  characterized  so  much  of  this  debate.  Nor  can  I 
forbear  to  say,  that  it  appears  to  me  extremely  impolitic  for  us  to  be  publicly 
engaged  in  any  arguments  on  the  subject,  while  negotiations  in  regard  to  it 
are  actually  on  foot  within  ear-shot  of  this  Hall,  and  while  we  are  necessa- 
rily Ignorant  how  far  our  own  individual  views  may  conform  to  those,  which 
the  American  Secretary  of  State  may  be  at  this  moment  pressing  upon  the 
attention  of  the  British  negotiator. 

Indeed,  sir,  this  whole  proceeding  is,  in  my  judgment,  eminently  calcu- 
lated to  impede  and  embarrass  the  negotiations  in  which  the  two  govern- 
ments are  employed.  We  have  received  authentic  assurances  that  those  ne- 
gotiations have  not  yet  failed,  that  they  are  still  in  progress,  and  that  a  com- 
munication in  regard  to  them  may  be  expected  from  the  Executive  before 
the  close  of  the  present  session.  Why  not  wait  for  this  communication? 
Why  insist  on  taking  any  step  in  the  dark,  when,  in  a  few  weeks  at  the  most, 
we  shall  be  able  to  act  advisedly,  and  to  see  clearly  the  ground  on  which  we 
,  are  treading? 

i     I  cannot  help  thinking,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  course  proposed  to  be 

pursued  on  this  subject,  savors  somewhat  of  distrust  of  the  hands  to  which 

our  side  of  this  negotiation  is  comunlted.     I  know  not  that  any  such  thing 

sintended.     I  know  not  that  there  is  any  purpose  to  influence,  by  this  pro- 


O 


)^dti^ 


^  li  Sr  u 


ceeding,  the  Cabinet  arrangements  of  the  President  elect.  It  seems  to  me, 
however,  that  the  peculiar  friends  of  the  present  Secretary  of  State  may  well 
feel  some  little  jealousy  on  the  point.  There  is  such  a  thing  known  to  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  as  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  ministry.  The  pas- 
sive of  this  bill,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
will  have  been  passed,  and  with  the  considerations  by  which  it  has  been 
urged,  will  seem  not  a  little  like  a  vote  of  want  of  coiifidence  in  our  Ameri- 
can Secretary.  I  am  no  champion  of  Mr.  Calhoun's.  His  Texan  negoti- 
ations and  correspondence  have  certainly  not  inspired  me  with  the  most  en- 
thusiastic admiration  of  his  diplomatic  aljility  or  tact.  But  it  tjeems  passing 
strange,  I  confess,  that  any  of  his  fricndd  should  be  willing  to  acquiesce  in 
such  marked  imputations  on  his  statesmanship  and  ministerial  fidelity  as 
have  been  heard  on  all  sides  of  the  House.  "  We  cannot  wait  for  negotia- 
lions.  We  want  no  more  of  them.  They  are  sacrificing  our  territory.  They 
are  only  another  name  for  surrenders  of  our  rightful  soil  and  sovereignty." 
These  are  the  cries  by  which  this  measure  is  to  be  carried  through!  Why, 
sir,  I  should  imagine,  from  all  this,  that  we  had  Some  imprinciplcd  or  in- 
competent British  Whig  at  the  head  of  our  Foreign  affairs,  ready  to  mart 
our  territory  for  gold ;  or  that  some  such  person  was  likely  to  succeed  to  the 
Department  of  State  at  the  earliest  moment.  Such  cries  are  the  stale  and 
unfounded  reproaches  with  which  political  opponents  have  been  wont  to 
assail  our  public  functionaries  for  party  effect.  That  they  should  now  be 
heard  from  the  self-styled  Democracy  of  the  House,  while  a  Democratic 
Secretary  of  State  has  the  great  seals  of  the  nation  still  in  his  hand,  and  while 
a  fire-new  Democratic  administration  is  on  tli«  very  eve  of  accession,  is,  in- 
deed, not  a  little  extraordinary. 

No  more  negotiations !  Why,  sir,  one  would  su])pose  that  this  would  be 
the  very  time  when  a  majority  of  this  House  would  desire  to  have  negotia- 
tions entered  upon,  and  would  feel  a  confidence  that  they  would  be  con- 
ducted to  a  triumphant  conclusion.  What  have  they  to  fear?  In  the  hu- 
miliating failure  of  all  previous  negotiations,  they  have  the  foil  which  is  to 
give  a  greater  brilliancy  to  theii  own  success.  If  the  treaty  of  Washington 
was  really  so  inglorious  a  surrender,  pray,  pray,  Mr.  Chairman,  do  not  for- 
bid the  abler,  the  more  accomplished,  the  more  patriotic  negotiator  of  your 
own  choice,  present  or  future,  to  give  us  the  example  of  a  better  treaty.  Do 
not  forbid  him  to  retrieve  the  character  of  American  diplomacy ;  to  pluck 
up  the  drowning  honor  of  the  country  from  the  waters  of  ihe  St.  John's ; 
and  to  show  us,  for  all  time  to  come,  how  to  preserve,  with  a  greater  skill, 
at  once  the  rights  and  the  interests  of  the  Republic,  including  that  highest  of 
all  her  interests,  Peace  ! 

No  more  negotiations !  The  treaty  of  Washington  an  inglorious  surren- 
der!  To  be  sure,  four-fifths  of  the  Senate  ratified  that  treaty,  and  the  whole 
country  applauded  it.  But  then  Maine  has  never  assented  to  it !  So  says 
one  of  the  honorable  members  from  Maine,  (Mr.  Hamlin  )  Maine  had  her 
commissioners  here,  had  she  not,  with  full  powers  to  agree  upon  a  conven- 
tional line  of  boundary  ?  and  they  did  agree  upon  such  a  line.  And  Maine 
has  since  received  into  her  treasury  the  money  for  which  those  commission- 
ers stipulated,  and  for  which  the  treaty  provided.  Not,  sir,  the  mere  reim- 
bursement of  expenses  incurred  in  maintaining  her  supposed  rights,  as  the 
honorable  member  implied,  but  the  rated  consideration  for  the  lands  to  which 
she  relinquished  her  claim.  And  yet  the  hon'^rable  member  insists  that 
Maine  has  never  yet  assented  to  the  treaty !     This  is  an  extraordinary  posi- 


wari 
the 


)r 


I 


IS  to  me, 

nay  well 

A'n  to  the 

The  pas- 

which  it 

lias  beea 

Lir  Ameri- 

m  negoti- 

most  en- 

ns  passing 

quiesce  in 

fidelity  as 

ncgotia- 

,ry.    They 

ereignty." 

i!     Why, 

.0(1  or  in- 

dy  to  mart 

ceed  to  the 

le  stale  and 

en  wont  to 

lid  now  be 

Democratic 

i,  and  while 

ssion,  ia,  in- 

lis  would  be 
lave  negotia- 
luld  be  con- 
In  the  hu- 
which  is  to 
Washington 
,  do  not  for- 
iator  of  your 
r  treaty.    Do 
cy;  to  pluck 
3  St.  John's  •, 
greater  skill, 
hat  highest  of 


orious  surren- 
ind  the  whole 
)  it !     So  say.8 
Maine  had  her 
pon  a  conven- 
,     And  Maine 
e  commission- 
he  mere  reim- 
l  rights,  as  the 
lands  to  which 
)er  insists  that 
aordinary  posi- 


tion, certainly.  I  trust  that  it  is  not  advnriced  now, as  a  prrtcncc  for  repudiating 
the  treaty,  and  for  setting  up  a  new  claim  to  re-annexation, hereafter.  How 
is  the  j)Oijition  sustained?  Simply  by  the  allegation  tluit  the  treaty  was  op- 
posed by  "the  only  Democratic  Senator  from  Maine  in  the  body  by  which 
the  treaty  was  ratified."  As  if  it  were  not  an  ample  set-off  to  that  sugges- 
tion, that  the  treaty  was  supported  by  the  only  W/iig  Senator  from  Maine 
at  the  same  period;  a  gentleman  (the  Hon.  Georoe  Evans)  of  whom  I 
may  say,  without  intending  any  dii^jMirngement  to  the  Democratic  Senator 
referred  to,  (the  Hon.  Relel  Williams,  for  whom  1  have  a  high  personal 
esteem,  founded  upon  u  long  acquaintance,)  that  he  is  second  to  none  of  his 
colleigucs,  j)ast  or  present,  nor,  indeed,  to  any  member  of  the  body  to  which 
he  belongs,  in  ability,  in  patriotism,  or  in  a  just  regard  for  the  rights  and  the 
interests,  either  of  his  own  State  or  of  the  nation  at  large. 

No  more  negotiations!  Why,  Mr.  Chairman,  where  is  such  a  doctrine 
as  this  to  lead  us?  Inevitably  to  war.  To  war  with  fiUgland  now;  to 
war  with  idl  the  world  hereafter,  or,  certainly,  with  all  parts  of  the  world 
with  wliicli  we  may  have  controversies  of  any  sort.  And  even  war  can 
never  put  an  end  to  the  necessity  of  negotiation,  l^nless  war  is  to  be  per- 
petual, you  must  come  back  to  negotiation  in  the  end.  The  only  (piestion 
m  the  case  before  us — the  only  question  in  every  case  of  disputed  inter  na- 
tional rights — is,  not  whether  you  will  negotiate  or  fight,  but  whether  you 
will  negotiate  only,  or  negotiate  and  fight  both.  Baules  will  never  settle 
boundaries  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  Oregon,  or  else- 
where. The  capture  of  ships,  the  destruction  of  commerce,  the  burning  and 
plundering  of  cities,  will  leave  us  just  where  we  commenced.  First  or  last, 
negotiation  alone  can  settle  this  question.  For  one,  therefore,  I  am  for  ne- 
gotiation first,  before  war,  and  without  war.  I  believe  that  we  shall  get 
quite  as  much  of  Oregon  in  this  way ;  and  I  know  that  we  shall  get  it  at 
less  expense,  not  merely  of  money,  but  of  all  that  makes  up  the  true  wel- 
fare and  honor  of  our  country. 

Sir,  the  reckless  flippancy  with  vihich  war  is  spoken  of  in  this  House  and 
elsewhere,  as  a  thing  to  be  '  let  come,' rather  than  wait  for  the  issue  of  nego- 
tiations, is  deserving,  in  my  judgment,  of  the  severest  rebuke  and  reproba- 
tion from  every  christian  piitriot  and  statesmm.  I  say  let  it  not  come,  let  it 
never  come,  if  any  degree  of  honorable  patience  and  forbearance  will  avert 
it.  I  protest  agaiLst  any  couj  •  :>f  proceeding  which  shall  invite  or  facilitate 
its  approach.  I  protest  against  ,i,  in  behalf  of  the  Commerce  of  the  nation, 
so  considerable  a  part  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  I  protesl 
against  it,  in  the  name  of  the  public  morality  and  Religion,  which  ought  to 
he  represented  by  every  member  on  this  floor.  I  protest  against  it,  also,  in 
the  spirit  of  a  true  Republican  Democracy.  My  venerable  colleague,  (Mr. 
Adams,)  alluded  yesterday  to  the  old  and  well-known  correspondence  of 
James  Madison  and  Alexander  Hamiltonj  under  the  signatures  of  Helvidius 
and  Pacificus,  and  expressed  his  wish  that  it  might  be  freshly  read  by  all 
who  took  an  interest  in  ascertainirig  the  just  limitations  of  Executive  power. 
I  cordially  respond  to  that  sentiuKjnt.  But  I  will  venture  to  say  that  no  one 
will  read  tliese  letters  without  being  struck  with  the  force,  the  beatity,  the 
consuni'.uate  justness  and  truth  of  a  warning  against  war,  wliich  one  of  those 
letters  contains,  and  which  constitutes  the  crown  jewel  of  the  whole  series. 
"War  is,  in  fact,  (says  James  Madisori,)  the  true  nurse  of  Executive  aggrandizement.  In 
war  a  physical  force  is  to  be  created,  and  it  is  the  Executive  will  which  is  to  direct  it.  In  war 
the  pubhc  treasurea  are  to  be  unlocked,  and  it  la  the  Executive  hand  which  is  to  dispense  them. 


6 


In  wnr  the  honors  and  emolumenta  of  office  are  to  be  multiplied,  and  it  is  the  Executive  patron- 
age  under  which  they  are  to  be  enjoyed.  It  is  in  war,  finally,  that  laurels  are  to  be  gathered, 
and  it  is  the  Executive  brow  they  are  to  encircle.  The  strongest  {uissioiis  and  most  dangerous 
weaknesses  of  Uio  human  breast — ambition,  avarice,  vanity,  the  honorable  or  venial  love  of 
fame — are  all  in  conspiracy  against  the  desire  and  tlic  duty  of  peace. 

Hence  it  has  grown  into  an  axiom,  that  the  Executive  is  the  department  of  power  most  dia* 
tinguished  by  its  propensity  to  war  *,  hence  it  is  the  practice  of  all  States,  in  proportion  a$  then 
are  free,  to  disarm  this  propensity  of  its  influence." 

Sucli  is  the  noble  testimony  which  was  borne  by  one  of  the  fathers  of  our 
country,  half  a  century  ago,  to  the  anti-Republican  tendencies  of  War. 
And  it  is  of  this  "  true  nurse  of  Executive  aggrandizement,"  that  gentlemen, 
who  are  pluming  themselves  upon  their  exclusive  Democracy,  are  so  con- 
tinually crying — let  ii  come !  Such  a  cry,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  not  only  in- 
consistent wiiJi  sound  Republicanism  and  true  morality,  but  it  is  to  the  last 
degree  puerile.  1  intend  no  disrespect  to  any  gentleman  who  hears  me ; 
but  as  I  have  listened  to  tlie  heroic  strains  which  have  resounded  through 
this  hall  for  some  days  past,  in  reference  to  the  facility  with  which  we  could 
muster  our  fleets  in  the  Pacific,  and  march  our  armies  over  the  Rocky 
Moimtains,  and  whip  Great  Britain  into  a  willingness  to  abandon  her  pre- 
tensions to  Oregon,  I  have  wished  that  some  Philip  Faulconbridge  were 
here  to  reply,  as  he  does  in  Shakspeare's  King  John,  to  some  swaggering 
citizen  of  Anglers — 

"  Here's  a  large  mouth  indeed, 

That  spits  forth  death  and  mountains,  rocks  and  seas  ; 

Talks  as  familiarly  of  roaring  lions, 

As  maids  of  thirteen  do  of  puppy-dogs. 

He  speaks  plain  cannon,  fire,  and  smoke,  and  bounce !" 

This  is  certainly  no  bad  description  of  much  of  the  debate  to  which  this 
bill  has  given  occasion,  and  which  might  better  have  befitted  the  dramatic 
stage  thra  the  council  halls  of  a  civilized  nation. 

And  against  whom  are  all  these  gasconading  bravadoes  indulged?  What 
nation  has  been  thus  bethumpt  and  bastinadoed  with  brave  words!  I  have 
no  compliments  to  bestow  on  Great  Britain,  and  am  not  here  as  her  apologist 
or  defender.  But  this,  at  least,  I  can  say,  without  fear  of  imputation  or  im- 
pugnment, that,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  she  is  that  nation  which  li- 
able to  do  us  the  most  good  in  peace,  and  the  most  harm  in  war.  She  is 
that  nation  with  whom  the  best  interests  of  our  country  imperatively  demand 
of  us  to  go  along  harmoniously,  so  long  as  we  can  do  so  without  a  sacrifice 
of  unquestioned  right  and  honor.  She  is  that  nation,  a  belligerent  conflict 
with  whom,  would  put  back  the  cause  of  human  civilization  and  improve- 
ment more  than  it  has  advanced  in  a  half  century  past,  or  would  recover  in 
a  half  century  to  come.  Peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
is  not  a  mere  interest  of  the  two  countries.  It  is  an  interest  of  the  world, 
of  civilization,  of  humanity ;  and  a  fearful  reckoning  will  be  theirs  who 
shall  wantonly  disturb  it. 

In  this  view,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  cannot  help  deploring  the  principle  of 
Ivatred  toicards  England,  which  seems  to  have  been  recently  inscribed,  by 
not  a  few  of  our  public  men,  as  the  first  article  of  their  political  creed.  There 
arc  those  with  whom  a  fling  at  Great  Britain  appears  to  be  the  principal 
study  of  all  their  oratory,  and  who  seem  to  regard  no  argument  complete. 


■A 


/c  |>atron- 
gathered, 
dangerous 
ol  love  of 

r  moat  dia- 
(i«n  01  tht\f 

xs  of  our 
ot  War. 
ntlemen, 
3  ao  con- 
only  in- 

0  the  last 
ears  me; 

1  tlirough 
we  could 
le  Rocky 
1  her  pre- 
[Ige  were 
vaggering 


ivhich  this 
;  dramatic 

1?     What 
!     I  have 
r  apologist 
ion  or  im- 
1  which  igi 
,r.     She  is 
ly  demand 
a  sacrifice 
nt  conflict 
improve- 
recover  in 
ited  States 
tlie  world, 
theirs  who 

rinciple  of 
scribed,  by 
;ed.  There 
3  principal 
t  complete, 


1 


I 


which  does  not  contain  some  denunciation  of  her  grasping  policy  or  hei 
spurious  philanthropy.  They  seem  to  have  adopted,  in  reference  to  England, 
the  maxim  which  Lord  Nelson  is  related  to  have  inculcated  towards  France, 
in  his  advice  to  some  of  the  midshipmen  under  his  command — "  There  are 
three  things  (said  he)  which  you  are  constantly  to  bear  in  mind :  first,  ypu 
must  always  ihiplicitly  obey  orders,  without  attempting  to  form  any  opinion 
of  your  owii  respecting  their  propriety  ;  secondly,  you  must  consider  every 
man  your  enemy  who  speaks  ill  of  your  King  ;  and  thirdly,  you  inust  hate 
a  hVenchman  as  you  hate  the  devil."    Such  a  maxim  might  be  pardoned, 

Eerhaps,  to  soldiers  and  sailors,  on  the  eve  of  an  engagement  in  mortal  coin- 
at  with  their  foes ;  but  it  is  the  last  which  ought  to  be  entertained  by  those 
who  are  entrusted  with  the  power  and  the  duty  of  pacific  legislation. 

But  then  Great  Britain  is  so  insolent  and  so  aggressive,  that  we  can't  help 
hating  her  !  She  is  hemming  us  round  on  every  side,  the  honorable  mem- 
ber from  Illinois  tells  us,  and  we  must  make  a  stand  against  her  soon,  or  we 
shall  be  absolutely  overrun  !  Mr.  Chairman,  this  phrase,  that  Great  Britain 
is  hemming  us  in  on  every  side,  has  become  so  great  a  favorite  of  late  years- 
in  our  political  dialectics,  that  I  am  diposed  to  inquire,  before  it  is  irrevo- 
cably incorporated  into  our  dictionary  of  truisms,  how  far  it  is  as  exact  as  it 
is  elegant. 

"  Great  Britain  is  hemming  us  in  on  every  side,  and  already  has  us  en- 
closed in  her  net-work  on  our  own  continent ;"  this,  I  think,  was  the  decla- 
ration of  the  honorable  member  from  Illinois.     How  far,  sir,  will  such  a 
declaration  bear  the  light  of  historical  truth?     It  would  seem  to  imply,  that 
the  United  States  of  America  was  the  original  civilized  nation  established  oa 
this  continent ;  that  Great  Britain  had  subsequently  made  settlements  in  our 
neighborhood ;  and  that  she  had  systematically  proceeded  to  environ  us  on 
all  sides  with  her  colonial  possessions  and  military  posts.     This  is  certainly 
a  new  reading  of  American  history.     I  have  some  how  or  other  obtained  an 
impression  from  the  schools,  that  Great  Britain  once  possessed  almost  the 
whole  of  this  continent,  or,  at  any  rate,  a  very  much  larger  part  of  it  than 
she  now  enjoys.     I  have  an  indistinct  idea,  that  there  was  a  day  when  she 
held  dominion  over  almost  all  the  territories  in  which  we  now  rejoice.     I 
have  some  dreamy  recollection  of  having  read  or  heard  about  stamp  acts, 
and  tea  taxes,  and  Boston  port-bills;  about  Bunker  hills, and  Saratogas,  and 
Yorktowns ;  about  revolutions,  and  declarations,  and  treaties  of  indepen- 
dence.    And  it  is  still  my  belief,  Mr.  Chairman,  which  fire  will  not  bum  out 
of  me,  that,  by  some  means  or  other,  Great  Britain  has  been  deprived,  within 
the  last  seventy  years,  of  by  far  her  most  valuable  colonies  on  this  continent; 
that  there  has  been  a  great  deal  more  of  ripping,  than  hemming,  as  to  this  net 
work  of  hers ;  that,  instead  of  her  hemming  us  in,  we  have  thrust  her  out, 
and  have  left  her  a  comparatively,  if  not  a  really,  insignificant  power  in  this 
Western  Hemisphere ! 

Sir,  Great  Britain  has  not  acquired  one  foot  of  soil  upon  this  continent, 
except  in  the  way  of  honorable  treaty  with  our  own  Government,  since  the 
day  on  which  we  finally  ousted  her  from  her  old  dominion  within  the  limits 
of  our  Republican  Union.  Every  body  knows  that  she  acquired  Canada  by 
the  treaty  of  1763.  We  ourselves  helped  her  to  that  acquisition.  Not  a  few 
of  the  forces —  not  a  few  of  the  leaders,  by  which  our  own  independence 
was  achieved,  were  trained  up,  as  by  a  Providential  preparation,  for  the 
noble  duty  which  awaited  them,  in  the  war  which  resulted  in  the  cession  of 
Canada  to  Great  Britain.     Certainly,  then,  we  have  no  cause  of  quarrel 


8 


with  Great  Britain  that  Canada  is  her;;.  But  then,  she  has  dared  to  think 
about  Texas,  she  has  cast  some  very  suspicious  glances  at  Cuba,  and  there 
is  great  reason  to  apprehend  that  her  heart  is  at  this  moment  upon  Califor- 
nia! True,  she  has  formally  denied,  to  our  own  Government,  that  she  hog 
any  desire  to  see  Texas  other  than  an  independent  nation.  True,  she  once 
conquered  Cuba,  and  gave  it  back  again  to  Spain  by  the  treaty  of  1763. 
True,  she  has  given  no  outward  and  visible  sign  of  any  passionate  yearning 
for  the  further  dismemberment  of  Mexico.  But  who  trusts  to  diplomatic  as- 
surances? Who  confides  in  innocent  appearances?  Diplomatic  assurances ! 
Has  not  the  chairman  of  our  own  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs  warned  us, 
that,  "  like  the  oaths  which  formerly  accompanied  treaties,  they  have  been 
the  cheap  contrivances  of  premeditated  hostile  action?"  Has  he  not  warned 
us  especially,  against  the  diplomatic  assurance  of  Great  Britain  in  regard  to 
Texas,  as  "the  ordinary  harbinger  of  whatever  it  most  solemnly  denies?" 

Such  a  course  of  argument  as  this,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  certainly  in  one  re- 
spect entirely  conclusive.  There  is,  obviously,  no  mode  of  replying  to  it. 
Once  assume  the  position,  that  neither  the  words  nor  the  deeds  of  Great 
Britain  are  to  be  taken  in  evidence  of  her  designs,  but  that  her  assurances 
are  all  hollow,  and  her  acts  all  hypocritical,  and  there  is  no  measure  of  ag- 
gression and  outrage  which  you  may  not  justly  apprehend  from  her.  I  do  not 
believe,  however,  that  any  considerable  part  of  this  House,  or  of  this  coun- 
try, will  acquiesce  in  the  propriety  of  proceeding  upon  premises  which  in- 
volve imputations  so  gross  and  so  gratuitous.  And  once  again  I  ask,  where 
is  the  proof  of  these  alarming  and  aggressive  pu-poses  of  Great  Britain,  so 
far  as  our  own  continent  is  concerned?  Where  is  the  evidence  that  she  is 
enclosing  us  in  a  fatal  net-work,  and  hemming  us  in  on  every  side?  Nay, 
sir,  I  boldly  put  the  question  to  the  consciences  of  all  who  hear  me — of  which 
of  the  two  countries.  Great  Britain  or  the  United  States,  will  impartial  his- 
tory record,  that  it  manifested  a  spirit  of  impatient  and  insatiate  self  aggran- 
dizement on  this  North  American  continent  ?  How  does  the  record  stand, 
as  already  made  up  ?  If  Great  Britain  has  been  thinking  of  Texas,  we 
have  acquired  Louisiana  ;  if  Great  Britain  has  been  looking  after  Cuba,  we 
have  established  ourselves  in  Florida ;  if  Great  Bfitain  has  set  her  heart  on 
California,  we  have  put  our  hand  upon  Texas.  Reproach  Great  Britain,  if 
you  please,  with  the  policy  she  has  pursued  in  extending  her  dominions  else- 
where. Reprobate,  if  you  please,  her  course  of  aggression  upon  the  East 
Indian  tribes ;  and  do  not  forget  to  include  your  own  Indian  policy  in  the 
same  commination.  But  let  us  hear  no  more  of  her  encroaching  spirit  in 
this  quarter.  It  is  upon  ourselves,  and  not  upon  her,  that  such  a  spirit  may 
be  fairly  charged.  I  say  to  the  gentleman  from  Illinois,  as  one  of  the  pecu- 
liar friends  of  re-annexing  Texas,  and  re-occupying  the  whole  of  Oregon, 
mviato  no?nine,  de  tefalmla  narratur. 

Indeed,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  story  has  been  told  of  us  already.  We  have 
been  anticipated  in  all  these  imputations  of  an  unscrupulous  spirit  of  aggran- 
dizement. I  have  here  a  speech  of  Mr.  Huskisson's  —a  name  held  in  pecu- 
liar reverence  by  the  friends  of  free-trade  in  this  House,  and  entitled  to  the 
respectful  regard  of  us  all,  both  for  the  intellectual  ability  and  the  moral  ex- 
cellence with  which  it  was  long  associated — delivered  in  the  British  House 
of  Conunons  in  1830,  on  the  political  and  commercial  relations  of  Great 
Britain  and  Mexico.  The  speech  is  full  of  interesting  and  curious  matter, 
and  I  doubt  not  that  I  shall  be  indulged  in  reading  some  passages  from  it  (o 
.the  House. 


9 


>» . 


* 

'^**.» 


d  to  think 
and  there 
)n  Califor- 
mt  she  ha0 
,  she  once 

of  1763. 
B  yearning 
omatic  os- 
ssurances ! 
varned  us, 
have  been 
lot  warned 
1  regard  to 
leniea?" 
in  one  re- 
lying to  it. 

of  Great 

assurances 

jure  of  ag- 

I  do  not 

this  coun- 

which  in- 

ask,  where 

Britain,  so 

that  she  is 

de?     Nay, 

— of  which 

ipartial  his- 

self  aggran- 

?cord  stand, 

Texas,  we 

r  Cuba,  we 

ler  heart  on 

t  Britain,  if 

linions  else- 

)n  tlie  East 

►licy  in  the 

ng  spirit  in 

a  spirit  may 

of  the  pecu- 

of  Oregon, 

We  have 
it  of  aggran- 
eld  in  pecu- 
ititled  to  the 
le  moral  ex- 
ritish  House 
ns  of  Great 
ious  matter, 
es  from  it  to 


t 


•'  But,  nir,  if  therp  ar»  ^eat  political  intcrfiits  vhirh  («liouId  induce  us  to  endeavor  to  maintain 
to  Rpnii;  her  prfsenl  sovcreififnty  and  possPNsion  of  Culm  and  Porto  Rico,  there  are  other  political 
conHiderations  which  make  it  not  less  important — if  possible,  still  more  imj)ortnnt — that  Mexico 
should  settle  into  a  state  of  internal  peace  and  tranquility,  and  of  entire  and  secure  independence. 
If  the  United  States  have  declared  that  they  cannot  allow  the  Island  of  Cuba  to  Wlong  to  any 
maritime  power  in  Europe,  Spain  excepted,  neither  can  England,  as  the  first  of  those  maritime 
powers — I  say  it  fearlessly,  because  I  feel  it  strongly — suffer  the  United  States  to  bring  under 
their  dominion  a  greater  portion  of  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  than  that  which  they  now 
possess." 

Tliis,  Mr.  Chairman,  be  it  remembered,  was  a  pubhc  declaration  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  the  year  1830,  by  one  of  the  most  lead- 
ing and  influential  British  statesmen  of  that  day.  And  I  cannot  help  re- 
marking, before  I  read  on,  that  it  appears  to  have  produced  not  the  sligiitest 
sensation  on  this  side  of  the  water.  General  Jackson  was  then  President  of 
the  United  States,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  was 
drafting,  in  that  capacity,  those  memorable  instructions,  which  afterwards 
cost  hiin  his  recall  from  London;  instructions,  by  which  tlie  attention  of  the 
British  Government  was  invited  to  the  peculiar  relations  of  amity  existing, 
not  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, but  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Denioci'atic  Administration  which  had  just  succeeded  to  power. 
This  peculiar  friendship  of  Gen.  Jackson  and  his  frif  nds  towards  Great  Brit- 
ain, was  in  no  degree  disturbed,  it  seems,  by  the  distinct  declaration,  that  we 
should  not  be  suffered  to  annex  Texas.  There  was  no  outcry  against  Brit- 
ish interference,  or  British  aggression.  There  was  no  clamor  about  her  de- 
signs to  effect  the  abolition  of  Southern  slavery.  No,  sir,  the  abolition  move- 
ments of  Great  Britain  had  not  then  been  commenced  in  her  own  colonies. 
And  a  most  notable  circumstance  it  is,  that  the  disposition  of  Great  Britain 
to  prevent  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  this  country,  should  have  been  so 
clearly  manifested,  before  she  had  made  thS  slightest  demonstration  of  an 
anti-slavery  spirit.  It  puts  an  utterly  extinguishing  negative  upon  the  charge, 
that  her  op])osition  is  the  mere  result  of  her  designs  upon  American  slavery. 
But  let  me  proceed  with  the  speech  of  Mr.  Huskisson. 

"  Within  the  lost  twenty-.scvcn  years  they  have  become  masters  of  all  the  shores  of  that  Gulf, 
from  the  point  of  Florida  to  the  Ri'  ''r  Sabine,  including  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of 
other  great  rivers,  the  port  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  valual^le  and  secure  harbors  of  Florida ; 
and,  within  these  few  days,  we  hear  of  their  intention  of  forming  a  naval  station  and  arsenal  at 
the  islands  of  the  Dry  Tortugas,  a  commanding  position  in  the  Gulf  stream  between  Florida  and 
Cuba.  With  all  this  extent  of  coast  and  islands,  we  know,  further,  that  designs  are  entertained, 
and  daily  acted  upon — I  will  not  say  by  the  present  Government  of  the  United  States,  but,  no- 
toriously, by  the  people — to  get  possession  of  the  fertile  and  extensive  Mexican  province  of 
Texas.  To  borrow  an  expression  of  a  deceased  statesman  of  that  country,  '  the  whole  people  of 
America  have  their  eye'  upon  that  province.  They  look  to  all  the  country  between  the  River 
Sabine  and  the  River  Bravo  del  Norte,  as  a  territory  that  must,  ere  long,  belong  to  their  Union. 
They  have  also,  I  believe,  that  same  eye  upon  some  of  the  Western  coast  of  Mexico,  possess- 
ing valuable  ports  in  the  Gulf  of  California.  Should  they  obtain  these  districts,  the  independ- 
ence of  Mexico,  I  will  venture  to  say,  will  be  no  better,  or  more  secure,  than  that  of^the  Creek 
Indians,  or  any  other  Indian  tribe  now  living  within  the  circle  of  the  present  recognised  limits  of 
the  United  States ;  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  will  become  as  much  a  part  of  their  waters  as  the 
Black  Sea  was  once  of  the  waters  of  Turkey,  or  as  the  channel  which  separates  England  from 
Ireland  may  be  considered  as  part  of  the  waters  of  the  United  Kingdom. 


10 


"  I  may  be  told,  sir,  that  these  are  visionary  alarms,  contemplating  schemes  of  aggrandiflement 
and  ambition  which  never  have  been,  and  probably  never  will  be,  entertained  in  any  quarter. 
At  this  moment,  I  willingly  admit  that  tlure  exists  a  friendly  disposition  in  the  GovemtnetU  qftk» 
United  States,  and  I  cannot  doubt  that  his  Majesty's  Government  fully  reciprocates  that  disposi- 
tion. Upon  every  account,  I  am  glad  to  see  these  two  powerful  States  living  upon  terms  of  hon- 
orable and  mutual  confidence,  each  relying  upon  the  peaceful  councils  of  the  other.  But  it  is 
not  to  be  imputed  to  me  that  I  am  undervaluing  this  good  understanding,  or  that  I  am  guilty  of 
want  of  respect  to  the  United  States,  or  even  of  discretion  as  an  individual  member  of  Parliament, 
if,  on  this  occasion,  I  do  not  lose  sight  of  those  circumstances  of  a  permanent  nature  which  be- 
long to  the  fixed  fiolicy  of  the  United  States,  and  to  those  motives  of  action  which,  however  dor- 
mant at  present,  would  probably  be  revived,  under  contingencies  that,  in  the  course  of  events, 
may  hereafter  arise — contingencies,  which  the  views  and  passions  of  the  American  people  would 
not  fail  to  turn  to  account  for  the  attainment  of  a  long-cherished  and  favorite  object. 

"  At  all  periods  of  our  history,  the  House  of  Commons  has  held  topics  of  this  nature  to  be  fair 
grounds  of  parliamentary  consideration.  Jealousy,  for  instance,  of  the  aggrandizement  of  tlie 
house  of  Bourbon,  has  always  been  held  an  element  entitled  to  enter  into  every  general  discus- 
sion affecting  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  and  I  am  sure  there  is  nothing  in  the  general  chjir- 
acter  of  Democi-atic  Republics,  or  in  the  past  conduct  of  the  United  States,  from  which  we  caa 
infr,  that  tlieir  aspirations  after  power  and  aggrandizement  are  less  steadily  kept  in  view  than 
tliose  of  an  absolute  monarch  in  Europe.  In  looking  to  the  future,  let  us  consult  the  experience 
of  the  past.  But,  in  the  case  of  the  New  World,  we  have  something  more  than  the  history  of 
the  last  thirty  years  to  guide  our  judgment.  The  views  and  sentiments  of  those  who,  during 
that  period,  have  directed  or  influenced  the  affairs  of  the  United  States,  have  been  brought  before 
U8  by  the  publication  of  their  correspondence.  I  am  afraid  the  living  statesmen  of  this  country 
have  scarcely  had  time  to  make  tliemselves  acquainted  with  those  views  and  sentiments,  as  they 
stand  disclosed  in  the  memoirs  tmd  correspondence  of  a  deceased  statesman  of  America,  I  mean 
the  late  Mr.  Jbfferson,  a  man  who,  from  the  period  of  their  first  declaration  of  independence— 
a  declaration  of  which  he  was  the  author — to  the  close  of  his  life,  seems  to  have  possessed  the 
greatest  ascendancy  in  the  councils  of  his  country,  and  whose  avowed  principles  and  views  ap- 
pear to  become  every  day  more  predominant  in  the  public  feelings  of  his  countrymen. 

"  In  respect  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  immense  interests,  commercial,  colonial,  and  ma- 
ritime, which  are  closely  connected  with  the  navigation  of  that  Gulf,  these  memoirs  are  full  of 
instruction — I  might  say  of  admonitions — well  deserving  the  most  serious  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country.  I  will  not  trouble  the  House  with  any  long  extracts  from  them ;  but  I  can- 
not deny  myself  the  opportunity  of  pointing  their  attention  to  a  few  passages,  which  show  how 
soon  the  United  States,  after  they  became  a  separate  nation,  fixed  their  eye  upon  the  Grulf  of 
Mexico,  and  how  steadily  and  successfully  tliey  have  watched  and  seized  every  opportunity  to 
acquire  dominion  and  ascendancy  in  that  part  of  the  world.  Within  seven  years  after  the  time 
when  their  independence  had  been  established,  and  finally  recognised  in  1783,  we  find  them  set- 
ting up  a  claim  of  positive  right  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  source  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  curious  to  see  what  was  the  opportunity  they  took  of  as- 
serting this  right  against  Spain,  a  power  which  had  materially  assisted  them  in  obtaining  their 
independence.  In  the  year  1790,  it  will  be  recollected  that  a  dispute  had  arisen  between  England 
and  Spain  respecting  Nootka  Sound.  Whilst  these  two  countries  were  arming,  and  every  thing 
appeared  to  threaten  war  between  them,  the  United  States  thought  that  they  saw,  in  the  embar^ 
rassments  of  Spain,  an  opening  to  claim  this  navigation  as  of  right.  Whether  such  a  claim 
could  or  could  not  be  sustained  by  any  principle  of  the  law  of  nations,  is  a  question  which  I  will 
not  stop  to  examine.  The  affirmative  was  at  once  boldly  assumed  by  America,  and  her  demand 
proceeded  upon  that  assumption.  The  right  once  so  affirmed,  what  does  the  House  think  was 
the  corollary  which  the  Government  of  the  United  Suites  built  upon  their  assertion  of  that  sup- 


n 


posed  right?  I  will  give  it  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  not  a  private  individual,  but 
the  SecretJiry  of  State,  conveying  the  instructions  of  his  Government  to  Mr.  Carmicliael,  then 
the  American  envoy  at  Madrid: — '  You  know,'  writes  Mr.  Jefferson,  '  that  the  navigation  can- 
not be  practiced  without  a  port,  where  the  sea  and  river  vessels  may  meet  and  exchange  loads, 
and  where  those  employed  about  them  may  be  safe  and  unmolested.  The  right  to  use  a  thiag^ 
comprehends  a  right  to  the  means  necessary  to  its  use,  and  without  which  it  would  be  useless.* 
I  know  not  what  the  expounders  of 'die  law  of  nations  in  the  old  world  will  have  to  say  to  this 
novel  and  startling  doctrine.  In  this  instruction,  which  is  dated  tlie  2d  of  August,  1790,  the  prin- 
ciple is  only  laid  down  in  the  abstract. 

"  I  will  now  show  the  House  the  special  application  of  it  to  the  claim  in  question,  by  quoting^ 
another  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Short,  the  American  envoy  at  Paris,  dated  only  eight 
days  after  the  former,  namely,  the  10th  of  August.  It  is  as  follows :  *  The  idea  of  i-eding  the 
island  of  New  Orleans  could  not  be  hazarded  to  Spain  in  the  first  step  ;  it  would  be  too  disa- 
greeable at  first  view ;  because  this  island,  with  its  .^wn,  constitutes,  at  present,  their  principal 
settlement  in  that  part  of  their  dominions,  (Louisiana,)  containing  about  three  thousand  white 
inhabitants,  of  every  age  and  sex.  Reason  and  events,  however,  may,  by  little  and  little,  fa- 
miliarize them  to  it.  That  we  have  a  right  to  some  spot  as  an  entrepot  for  our  commerce  may 
be  at  once  affirmed.  I  suppose  this  idea  (the  cession  of  New  Orleans)  too  much  even  for  the 
Count  de  Montmorin  at  first,  and  that,  therefore,  you  will  find  it  prudent  to  urge,  and  get  him  to 
recommend  to  the  Spanish  court,  only  in  general  terms,  a  port  near  tJie  mouth  of  the  river,  viritU 
a  circumjacent  territory  sufficient  for  its  support,  well  defined,  and  extra-territorial  to  Spain^ 
leaving  the  idea  to  future  growth.' 

"  Contrary  to  the  expectation  of  tlie  United  States  when  those  instructions  were  given,  Qreat 
Briteun  and  Spain  settled  their  differences  without  cm  appeal  to  arms ;  and,  in  consequence,  these 
practical  applications  of  the  law  of  nations  were  no  longer  pressed  by  the  United  States.  Soon 
after,  Spain  became  involved  in  war  with  France,  and  that  war  terminated  in  her  being  com- 
peUed  to  cede  Louisiana  to  the  latter  power.  In  1803,  that  whole  province  was  sold  by  France 
to  the  United  States.  By  this  purchase  they  acquired  not  only  New  Orleans,  but  a  very  exten- 
sive territory  within  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  I  next  go  to  the  year  1806.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  then 
no  longer  Seci-etary  of  State — he  had  been  raised  to  the  more  important  post  of  President  of  the 
United  States.  In  that  character  we  find  him  writing  to  Mr.  Munroe,  then  the  American  min- 
ister in  London,  in  the  following  terms  :  '  V/'e  begin  to  broach  the  idea,  that  we  consider  the 
whole  gulf-stream  as  of  our  own  waters,  in  which  hostilities  and  cruising  are  to  be  frowned  on 
for  the  present,  and  prohibited  so  soon  as  either  consent  or  force  will  permit  us.'  The  letter, 
from  which  this  is  an  extract,  is  dated  the  4th  of  May,  1806. 

"  If  the  United  States  'broached'  this  idea  in  1806,  they  are  not  likely  to  have  abandoned  it  in 
1819,  when,  in  addition  to  Louisiana,  they  procured,  by  treaty  with  Spain,  the  further  impor- 
tant cession  of  the  Floridas.  That  it  is  a  growing,  rather  than  a  waning,  principle  of  their 
policy,  I  think  we  may  infer  from  a  later  letter  which  we  find  in  this  correspondence,  not  writ- 
ten, indeed,  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  any  public  character,  but  addressed  by  him,  aa  a  person  exer- 
cising from  his  retirement  the  greatest  sway  in  the  councils  of  the  Union,  to  the  President. 
This  letter,  dated  so  lately  as  the  25th  of  October,  1823,  discusses  the  interests  of  the  United 
States  in  lespect  to  Cuba  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  these  are  the  statements  which  it  avows: 
1 1  candidly  confess  that  I  have  ever  looked  on  Cuba  as  the  most  interesting  addition  which 
could  ever  be  made  to  our  system  of  States.  The  control  which,  witlx  Florida  Point,  tl\is  islaod 
would  give  us  over  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  countries  and  isthmus  bordering  on  it,  as  well 
as  all  those  whose  waters  flow  into  it,  would  fill  up  tlie  meaaure  of  our  political  well-being. 
Yet  I  am  sensible  that  this  can  never  be  obtained,  even  witli  her  own  consent,  but  by  war.'  " 

These  extracts  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  in  1830,  Mr.  Chair- 


12 

man,  are  at  once  amusing  and  edifying.  I  think  no  one  can  help  smiling 
at  the  ingenious  devices  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  which  they  disclose,  for  extending 
our  dominion  over  sea  and  land.  They  prove,  too,  most  abundantly,  (and  it 
was  for  this  purpose  that  I  have  introduced  them,)  that  all  the  charges  against 
Great  Britain,  which  we  are  now  making,  as  to  her  designs  upon  Texas,  uj)on 
California,  and  upon  Cuba,  are  but  the  flattest  repetition  of  those  which 
Great  Britain  long  ago  arrayed  against  us.  They  prove,  still  further,  as  I 
have  already  intimated,  that  the  jealousy  of  Great  Britain  as  to  the  extension 
of  our  dominion  over  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was  long  antecedent  to  any  move- 
ment on  her  part  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  utterly  demolish  the  position 
that  her  desire  to  maintain  the  independence  of  Texas  is  the  mere  result  of 
spurious  philanthropy  and  abolition  fanaticism.  But  I  leave  them  to  speak 
for  themselves,  and  turn  to  considerations  more  immediately  connected  with 
the  question  before  us. 

The  honorable  member  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Douglass)  seemed  greatly  ex- 
cited yesterday  at  a  remark  which  fell  from  my  friend  from  Pennsylvania, 
(Mr.  E.  J.  Morris,)  in  reference  to  the  ultiinate  destiny  of  (he  Oregon  Ter- 
ritory, and  to  the  likelihood  of  its  becoming  the  site  of  an  independent  na- 
tion, instead  of  remaining  as  a  permanent  member  of  our  own  confederacy. 
The  honorable  member  chafed  himself  into  a  state  of  most  towering  indig- 
nation at  the  bare  suggestion  of  such  an  idea,  and -denounced  it  in  the  most 
unsparing  terms  as  an   almost  treasonable  proposition  for  dissolving  the 
Union.     He  invoked  the  attention  of  the  whole  country  to  this  first  intima- 
tion of  a  design  to  dismember  our  Republic,  and  demanded  a  prompt  ex- 
pression of  rebuke  and  condemnation  upon  all  who  were  privy  to  so  mon- 
strous and  revolting  a  proposition.     Pray,  sir,  does  the  honorable  member 
know  with  whom  this  idea  originated,  or  by  whom,  certainly,  it  was  most 
deliberately  and  emphatically  uttered  in  this  Capitol?    Let  me  beg  his  at- 
tention to  a  passage  from  the  speech  of  an  honorable  Senator  from  Missjuri, 
who,  I  hope,  has  lost  nothing  of  the  confidence  of  his  own  party  by  a  course 
of  proceeding  in  regard  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  by  which  he  has  gained 
the  respect  of  not  a  few  of  his  political  opponents,  and  has  literally  "  over- 
come more  than  his  enemies:" 

"  Mr.  Benton  proceeded  to  the  next  inquiry — the  effect  which  the  occupation  of  the  Cokun- 
bia  would  have  upon  this  Union. 

"  On  this  point  he  could  speak  for  himself  only,  but  Ke  would  speak  without  reserve.  He 
believed  that  the  union  of  those  States  would  not  be  jeoparded  by  the  occupation  of  that  river, 
but  that  it  wou4d  be  the  means  of  planting  the  germ  of  a  new  and  independent  power  lieyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  There  was  a  beginning  and  a  natural  progress  in  the  order  of  all  things. 
The  military  post  on  the  Columbia  would  be  the  nucleus  of  a  settlement.  Fanners,  traders, 
and  artisans,  would  collect  about  it.  When  arrived  at  some  degree  of  strength  and  population, 
the  young  society  would  sicken  of  a  military  government,  and  sigh  for  the  establishm«nt  of  a 
civil  authority.  A  territorial  government  obtained,  the  full  enjoyment  of  State  rights  would 
next  be  demanded ;  and,  these  acquired,  loud  clamors  would  soon  be  heard  against  the  hardship 
of  coming  so  far  to  the  Seat  of  Government.  All  this  would  be  in  the  regular  order  of  eventa, 
and  the  consequence  sliould  be  foreseen  and  provided  for.  This  Republic  should  have  limits. 
The  pre.sent  occasion  does  not  require  me  to  say  where  these  limits  should  be  found  on  the  North 
and  South ;  but  they  are  fixed  by  the  hand  of  nature,  and  posterity  will  neither  lack  sense  to 
see,  nor  resolution  to  step  up  to  them.  Westward,  wo  ran  speak  without  reserve;  and  the 
ridge  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  may  be  named  without  offence,  \\a  presenting  a  convenient,  o*- 


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13 

tural,  and  cTcrlasting  boundary.  Along  the  back  of  this  ridge,  the  western  limit  of  this  repub- 
lic should  be  drawn,  and  the  statue  of  the  fabled  god,  Terminus,  should  be  raised  upon  its  high- 
est peak,  never  to  be  thrown  down.  In  planting  the  seed  of  a  new  power  on  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific  ocean,  it  should  be  well  understood  that,  when  strong  enough  to  take  care  of  itself,  the 
new  government  should  separate  from  tlie  mother  empire,  as  the  child  separates  from  the  parent 
at  the  age  of  manhood.  The  heights  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  should  divide  their  possessions ; 
and  the  mother  republic  would  find  herself  indemnified  for  her  ares  and  expense  about  the  in- 
fant power,  in  the  use  of  a  post  in  the  Pacific  ocean  ;  the  protection  of  her  interests  in  that  sea ; 
the  enjoyment  of  the  fur  trade ;  the  control  of  the  Indians  ;  the  exclusion  of  a  monarchy  from 
her  border ;  the  frustration  of  the  hostile  schemes  of  Great  Britain ;  and,  above  all,  in  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  republic,  composed  of  her  children,  speaking  her  language,  inheriting  her  princi- 
ples, devoted  to  liberty  and  equality,  and  ready  to  stand  by  her  side  against  the  combined  powers 
of  the  old  world." 

Such,  Mr.  Chairman,  were  the  views  of  Mr.  Benton  in  1825.  Here  is 
the  earliest  public  expression  of  the  idea,  which  has  so  electrified  with  horror 
the  honorable  member  from  Illinois,  and  has  drawn  forth  the  heaviest  bolts 
of  his  indignation.     Truly,  sir, 

"  Full  many  a  shaft  at  random  sent. 

Hits  mark  the  archer  little  meant." 

His  fulminations,  it  i?  plain,  have  passed  quite  over  the  heads  of  his  oppo- 
nents, and  have  fallen  upon  one  whom  he  would  gladly  have  spared. 

Nor  is  Mr.  Benton  the  only  one  of  the  honorable  member's  Democratic 
cxemphrs  whom  he  has  unconsciously  scathed.  A  most  respectable  and  in- 
telligent friend  of  mine  (Mr.  T.  G.  Gary  of  Boston)  visited  Monticello  in 
1818.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  then  greatly  interested  in  the  subject  of*  Western 
emigration,  and  in  the  reports  of  Lewis  and  Clarke.  In  the  course  of  con- 
versation he  inquired  whether,  when  Mr  Astor  sold  out  Astoria  to  the 
British  Fur  Company,  he  retained  a  right  to  property  of  any  kind  there. 
*'  Because,"  said  he,  "  I  am  anxious  to  ascertain  that  there  was  some  reserva- 
tion on  which  a  territorial  claim  may  be  made.  I  am  desirous  of  seeing  a 
new  confederation  growing  up  there."  "  You  say  a  new  confederation,  (;e- 
plied  my  friend  ;)  you  mean  a  distinct  one,  then."  "  Certainly,"  said  Mr. 
Jefferson,  "  the  extent  would  be  altogether  too  great  for  owe  government." 

The  same  view  was  expressed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Astor, 
which  has  been  referred  to  by  another  highly  intelligent  and  distinguished 
Boston  merchant,  (Hon.  William  Sturgis,)  in  a  very  able  lecture  upon  the 
Oregon  question,  delivered  before  the  Boston  Mercantile  Library  Association, 
a  few  days  since.     In  that  letter,  Mr.  Jefferson  says : 

**  I  considered  a.^  a  great  public  acquisition  the  commencement  of  a  settlement  on  that  point  of 
the  Western  coast  of  America,  and  looked  forward  with  gratification  to  the  time,  when  its  de- 
•cendants  should  have  spread  themselves  through  the  whole  length  of  that  coast,  covering  it  with 
free  and  independent  Americans,  unconnected  with  us  but  by  the  ties  qf  blood  and  interest,  and  enr^ 
joying  like  us  the  rights  of  self-government." 

These  are  antiquated  opinions,  I  shall  be  told,  which  the  young  Demo- 
cracy cannot  recognise.  Railroads  and  steam  engines  have  annihilated  space, 
and  have  exploded  all  theories  which  rested  on  (he  accidents  of  exte  it  and 
distance.  But  what,  Mr.  Chairman,  becomes  of  that  argument,  of  which 
we  have  heard  so  much  m  the  late  dibate  upon  Texas,  about  na/ura/ boun- 
daries, and  '*  the  configuration  of  the  earth?"     It  is  not  a  little  amusing  to 


•-.t^iJ^*^ 


14 


observe  what  different  views  are  taken  as  to  the  indications  of  "  the  hand  of 
nature,"  and  the  pointings  of"  the  finger  of  God,"  by  the  same  gentlemen, 
under  different  circumstances  and  upon  different  subjects.  In  one  quarter 
of  the  compass  they  can  descry  the  hand  of  nature  in  a  level  desert  and  a 
second-rate  river,  plainly  defining  our  legitimate  boundaries,  and  beckoning 
us  impatiently  to  march  up  to  them.  But  when  they  turn  their  eyes  to 
another  part  of  the  horizon,  the  loftiest  mountains  of  the  universe  are  quite 
lost  upon  their  gaze.  There  is  no  hand  of  nature  there.  The  configuration 
of  the  earth  has  no  longer  any  significance.  The  Rocky  mountains  are 
mere  molehills.  Our  destiny  is  onward.  We  must  cover  this  whole  conti- 
nent— aye,  and  go  beyond  it,  if  necessary,  says  the  honorable  member  from 
Illinois.  And  all  for  the  glory  of  the  Republic !  "  The  finger  of  God" 
never  points  in  a  direction  contrary  to  the  extension  of  the  glory  of  the 
Republic !  This  would  seem  to  be  the  sum  and  upshot  of  the  whole  matter 
Sir,  there  is  a  definition  of  glory  by  the  immortal  dramatist  whom  I  have 
already  quoted,  which  such  a  course  of  remark  has  brought  to  my  remem- 
brance, and  which  I  cannot  forbear  citing : 

"  Glory  is  like  a  circle  in  the  water, 

Which  never  ceaseth  to  enlarge  itself, 

Till  by  broad  spreading  it  disperse  to  nought." 

And  this,  this,  will  be  the  glory  of  that  spirit  of  aggrandizement  which 
is  seen  at  this  moment  leaping  over  the  Sabine  in  one  quarter,  and  dashing 
itself  upon  the  Rocky  mountains  in  another  ! 

A  few  remarks  in  reference  to  the  precise  bill  before  us,  Mr.  Chairman, 
will  bring  me  to  a  close. 

I  listened,  sir,  with  great  pleasure,  to  the  remarks  of  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  by  which  this  bill  was  introduced,  (Mr.  A.  V.  Brown,)  who 
closed  the  debate  last  evening.  If  the  whole  discussion  had  been  conducted 
in  the  same  tone  and  temper  in  which  he  addressed  the  House,  and  if  the 
bill  had  been  originally  drafted  in  the  shape  to  which  he  has  expressed  his 
willingness  now  to  reduce  it,  there  would  have  been  little  cause  for  regretting 
the  introduction  of  the  subject.  I  agree  with  him  in  his  two  principal  posi- 
tions. I  concur  with  him,  first,  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  inexpedient  for  ua 
to  terminate  the  convention  of  joint-occupation  until  negotiations  have  been 
still  longer  pursued.  I  agiee  with  him,  also,  that  it  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  existence  of  that  convention  for  us  to  extend  our  jurisdiction  over 
our  own  citizens,  just  so  far  as  Great  Britain  has  extended  her  jurisdiction 
over  her  own  subjects,  in  the  Oregon  Territory  ;  and,  so  far,  I  am  willing  to 
go  with  him. 

But  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  bill  under  consideration,  even  with  the 
amendments  which  have  been  proposed,  goes  fur  beyond  this  mark.  The 
section  which  provides  for  the  granting  of  lands  to  settlers,  with  whatever 
limitations  and  qualifications  it  may  be  guarded,  will  be  considered  as  an 
assumption  of  exclusive  sovereignty,  or,  as  an  indirect  mode  of  securing  an 
exclusive  advantage.  The  British  Government  will  so  construe  it.  And 
how  will  our  Secretary  of  State  be  able  to  gainsay  such  a  construction,  when 
he  has  already  admitted  the  justice  with  which  it  would  be  set  up,  in  a  speech 
of  his  own  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  within  eighteen  months  past,  as 
printed  in  the  Congressional  Globe  before  me?  I  need  not  trouble  ihe  com- 
mittee with  citations.    Any  gentleman  can  turn  to  the  apeecii  for  himself. 


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But  is  it  not  worth  while  for  the  friends  of  Mr.  Talhoun  to  pause,  before 
they  place  him  in  a  predicament,  in  which  the  only  alterr^atives  will  be,  ei- 
ther to  resign  his  post,  or  to  defend  a  course  of  proceeding,  as  Secretary, 
which  he  has  openly  condemned  as  a  Senator  ? 

Even  as  a  measure  for  the  American  settlers  in  Oregon,  without  regard  to 
the  claims  of  Great  Britain,  this  bill  is  not  altogether  to  my  taste.  It  provides 
for  the  appointment  of  a  governor  and  judge,  who  are  to  have  absolute  au- 
thority to  promulgate  and  enforce  throughout  the  Territory  of  Oregon,  any 
and  all  laws  which  they  may  see  fit  to  select  from  the  statutes  of  any  State 
or  Territory  in  the  Union  ;  which  laws  are  to  continue  in  force  until  posi- 
tively disapproved  of  by  Congress — a  limitation  which  we  all  know,  from 
our  experience  in  regard  to  other  Territories,  is  practically  inoperative.  This 
discretionary  dominion  of  these  two  officers  is  to  last  until  there  shall  be  five 
thousand  free  white  aale  American  citizens  of  twenty -one  years  of  age 
in  Oregon  to  authorize  the  establishment  of  a  legislative  body  for  them- 
selves. This  will  be  no  brief  term  for  such  a  Duarchy.  The  tide  of  emi- 
giation  is  now  setting  towards  California,  and  not  towards  Oregon.  There 
has  been  a  great  deal  of  delusion  as  to  the  prospect  of  an  early  colonization 
of  Oregon.  It  is  now  pretty  well  understood  that  there  are  as  good  lands  on 
this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  on  the  other,  so  far,  at  least,  as  the 
country  north  of  the  42d  degree  of  latitude  is  concerned.  The  day  is  still  dis- 
tant, when  there  will  be  five  thousand  free  white  male  American  citizens  in 
Oregon.  I  am  told  that  there  are  not  two  thousand  there  now.  And  I 
do  not  believe  that  these  American  citizens  will  thank  you,  for  breaking  up 
the  little  temporary  organization  upon  which  they  have  agreed  among  them- 
selves, in  order  to  make  way  for  so  arbitrary  a  system  as  is  provided  for  them 
by  this  i;ill. 

One  limitation  upon  the  discretion  of  these  two  irresponsible  lawgivers  ought 
certainly  to  be  imposed,  if  the  bill  is  to  pass.  As  it  now  stands,  there  is  nothing 
to  prevent  them  from  legalizing  the  existenpe  of  domestic  slavery  in  Oregon. 
It  seems  tO*  be  understood  that  this  institution  is  to  be  limited  by  the  terms 
of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  is  nowhere  to  be  permitted  in  the  Ameri- 
can Union  above  the  latitude  of  36°  30\  There  is  nothing,  however,  to  en- 
force this  understanding  in  the  present  case.  The  published  documents 
prove  that  Indian  slavery  already  exists  in  Oregon.  I  intend,  therefore,  to 
move,  whenever  it  is  in  order  to  do  so,  the  insertion  of  an  express  declara- 
tion that  "  there  shall  neither  be  slavery^  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  this 
Territory,  except  for  crime  ^  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  con- 
victed.^^* 

But  I  am  in  hopes,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  bill  will  not  become  a  law  at 
the  present  session,  in  any  shape.  Every  thing  conspires,  in  my  judgment, 
to  call  for  the  postponement  of  any  such  measure  to  a  future  day.  We 
ought  not  to  contemplate  the  possibility  of  a  question  like  this  being  settled 
otherwise  than  by  peaceful  negotiations.  We  ought  to  give  ample  time  for 
those  negotiations,  and  do  nothing  which  can  interrupt  or  embairass  them. 
We  have  nothing  to  regret  in  our  past  negotiations  with  Great  Britain ;  we 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  those  in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  Reproaches 
as  to  the  former,  and  menaces  as  to  the  latter,  are  alike  but  the  ebullilions 
of  ])arty  heat  or  personal  hate,  and  will  perish  with  the  breath  in  which  they 

•  This  amendment  was  subsequently  offered  by  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  adopted  by  a  vote  of  131 
to  69. 


16 

are  uttered.  Mr.  Webster  has  dared  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  country  by 
abating  something  of  our  extreme  territorial  claims  on  the  Northeast,  and  he 
has  earned  the  gratitude  of  all  good  citizens  by  doing  so.  I  trust  Mr.  Cai  • 
houn  will  not  be  frightened  out  of  that  kindred  spirit  of  conciliation  and 
concession,  which  he  has  already  manifested  on  this  subject  in  the  Senate, 
by  the  bluster  and  brag^^cio  of  this  debate.  We  have  twice  offered  to 
compromise  with  Great  Britain  on  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude,  and  such  a 
compromise  would  be  the  very  best  result  that  we  have  a  right  to  anticipate 
now.  And  even  if  some  slight  deviations  from  this  hue  should  be  found 
necessary  for  effecting  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  question,  the  sober  jud- 
ment  of  the  nation  would  not  hesitate  to  approve  the  concession. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  gentlemen  will  insist  on  contemplating  the  neces- 
sity of  a  resort  to  arms  upon  this  question — if  they  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that,  inasmuch  as  the  49th  parallel  has  been  twice  offered  and  twice 
refused,  there  is  a  point  of  honor  between  the  two  nations  which  can  only 
be  settled  by  a  fight — if  they  are  converts  to  the  syllogism  of  the  honorable 
member  from  Illinois,  that  no  English  minister  dares  to  accept  the  49th  par- 
allel, and  no  American  Secretary  dares  to  offer  more,  erso,  they  both  dare 
to  involve  the  world  in  war — still,  still,  I  say,  postpone  the  present  proceed- 
ing. We  enter,  to-day,  upon  the  last  month  of  an  expiring  Administration. 
A  new  President  is  about  to  enter  upon  the  four  years  term  to  which  the 
people  have  elected  him.  A  new  Congress  will  soon  be  in  existence  to  act 
upon  his  recommendations.  Upon  this  new  Administration  has  been  sol- 
emnly devolved  the  responsibility  of  conducting  both  the  domestic  and  for- 
eign affairs  of  the  nation  during  its  next  Olympiad.  Let  us  leave  that  re- 
sponsibility undisturbed.  Let  us  not  employ  the  last  moments  of  our  power 
in  creating  difficulties  which  others  must  encounter,  and  exciting  storms 
which  others  must  breast.  Rather  let  us  do  what  we  may  to  secure  for 
tliose  upon  whose  shoulders  the  Government  has  fallen,  a  serene  sky  and  a 
calm  sea  at  the  outset  of  their  voyage,  that  they  may  take  their  observations, 
and  shape  their  course  delibeftitely  ;  and  let  all  our  good  wishes  go  with 
them,  (as  my  own  certainly  will,)  that  they  may  complete  their  career, 
without  striking  either  on  Domestic  Discord  or  Foreign  War!  If  they  fail 
in  doing  so,  let  the  responsibility  be  wholly  their  own. 


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